Chapter 45: Stepping onto the Stage

A piercing siren echoed over the entire military barracks. On January 10, 1925, in the barracks of the 1st Reichswehr Division near Berlin, soldiers were rushing out of their quarters, quickly forming ranks in their designated positions.

“1st Company, assembled!” a first lieutenant reported loudly, seeing that his soldiers were already in neat formation.

“3rd Company, assembled!”

“2nd Company, assembled!” The voices were different, but all were incomparably loud and clear.

“Reporting to the Regimental Commander! 1st Battalion, assembled as ordered!” the 1st Battalion commander reported to his superior after seeing that all his troops had gathered.

In just 5 minutes, several thousand men had formed neat squares on the parade ground. The entire field once again returned to silence, without a single sound of chatter.

…

“Minister, Minister Stresemann! You’ve gathered everyone in the conference room so early. I wonder what important matter you have to announce?”

Stresemann, clutching a folder, looked at a young diplomat from the Foreign Ministry and said with a smile, “Don’t ask. You’ll know naturally when you get to the conference room.”

Not far behind them followed a dozen or so Foreign Ministry staff members in suits. Some were already high-ranking diplomats, while others were merely secretaries or low-level employees of the ministry.

Also rushing to a meeting in a similar hurry were the officials from the Ministry of Transport.

…

In an open area of a Krupp branch factory, workers wearing hard hats and garrison caps stood in a dense crowd. They all looked up at the factory manager on a high platform. The manager was giving a speech. “Today! I have good news for everyone! The factory has decided to allow workers to rest in batches for two hours every Tuesday afternoon!”

The moment his voice fell, a cheer erupted from the workers below. They had never heard of a capitalist voluntarily giving workers time off. Their breaks and benefits had always required the struggle of a strike. It had always been this way.

“Thank you! Thank you, Mr. Krupp!” an old worker shouted, leading the cheer.

The factory manager smiled faintly, pressed his hands down to signal for quiet, and then continued, “Don’t be so quick to thank me! The factory has also decided to extend maternity leave for female employees by one week! And to give male employees three days of paternity leave!”

“Mr. Krupp is truly a good person! I misunderstood him before!” a young worker muttered under his breath. “My wife is pregnant.”

“Mr. Krupp is truly worthy of being a German hero who resisted the French aggression!” another worker also nodded and said.

After the cheers of the people had once again subsided, the factory manager spoke again. “In addition, this factory has decided! For workers who make technical contributions or offer excellent suggestions to the factory, there will be a reward of 100,000 Marks plus a one-month vacation!”

“My God! A one-month vacation! And 100,000 Marks!” The crowd below boiled over again. Everyone felt as if they were dreaming.

“This is all because Mr. Krupp has joined a political party!” the factory manager finally said with a smile.

…

“Correct! The Greater Germany Party!” Akado pushed open the window, looked at the sun that had already risen high outside, took a deep breath of fresh air to refresh his tired face, and said with a smile to Rommel behind him, “The only thing that can save Germany is our Greater Germany Party.”

Outside the window, a few birds on a large tree were singing loudly. The Reichswehr High Command was serene. It seemed as if everything was so peaceful, so peaceful that it made one want to close their eyes and experience this pleasant and refreshing morning.

…

An officer placed his palm on the German flag. His other hand held up three fingers to the sky. He solemnly swore an oath before his superior, the regimental commander, “I, Captain Skefen Doleke, do solemnly swear! To renounce my previous beliefs, to voluntarily join the Greater Germany Party, to be loyal to the Greater Germany Party, to serve the Greater Germany Party for life, and to pledge allegiance to Chairman Akado Rudolph! Long live Greater Germany!”

Beside him, hundreds of men stood in neat rows, raising their hands high, three fingers pointing to the sky. Their voices were neat and loud, “I, [Name], do solemnly swear! To voluntarily join the Greater Germany Party, to be loyal to the Greater Germany Party, and to pledge allegiance to Chairman Akado Rudolph! Long live Greater Germany!”

Between the barracks not far away, row after row of soldiers were lining up to swear the oath. The cheers of Greater Germany Party members were everywhere.

“Long live the Greater Germany Party!” The acting commander of the 1st Division, Hauck, stood before his staff and several regimental commanders and said with great pride.

Before him, the several regimental commanders and staff officers all placed their hands on the flag and spoke the oath they must remember for the rest of their lives: “I, [Name], do solemnly swear! To renounce my previous beliefs, to voluntarily join the Greater Germany Party, to be loyal to the Greater Germany Party, to serve the Greater Germany Party for life, and to pledge allegiance to Chairman Akado Rudolph! Long live Greater Germany!”

…

In the Ruhr industrial zone, inside a branch factory of Krupp, countless workers were chanting Gustav Krupp’s name. Countless workers were chanting the name of the Greater Germany Party.

“Krupp! Krupp!” a young worker shouted frantically, waving his arms.

“The Greater Germany Party is a party that seeks benefits for all the people of Germany! It’s much better than those pathetic politicians! Is there anyone willing to support this party?” the factory manager asked loudly.

“Yes!” countless people shouted.

“I have already joined the Greater Germany Party! Are you willing to join with me and become trusted brothers?” the factory manager shouted again.

“We are willing!” the people below shouted back, hysterical, almost frenzied, but anyone could hear the excitement in their voices.

“Then let us swear the oath together now! After we swear the oath, I will have people register everyone and then issue the Greater Germany Party membership cards,” the factory manager continued to incite.

“Alright!” everyone answered.

“No one is allowed to leave! Quit that bastard Nazi Party of yours, that trash party that only talks and does nothing!” a burly man in the crowd said.

“That’s right! Whoever leaves is an enemy to all of us!” a young worker shouted, waving a wrench. “Only by following the Greater Germany Party will we have a good life!”

“That’s the logic! What if too few of us join and they look down on us? What if all these benefits are taken back?” an old worker said, clearly thinking far ahead.

“We will swear the oath!” everyone shouted in unison towards the factory manager’s high platform.

“I, Factory Manager Boka Kate, do hereby swear,” the factory manager said.

“I, [Name], do hereby swear,” the people below all shouted in unison.

“From this moment on, to renounce my previous beliefs, to voluntarily join the Greater Germany Party, to be loyal to the Greater Germany Party, to serve the Greater Germany Party for life, and to pledge allegiance to Chairman Akado Rudolph! Long live Greater Germany!” the factory manager swore.

“From this moment on, to renounce my previous beliefs, to voluntarily join the Greater Germany Party, to be loyal to the Greater Germany Party, to serve the Greater Germany Party for life, and to pledge allegiance to Chairman Akado Rudolph! Long live Greater Germany!” the workers below swore in unison.

“The Greater Germany Party will lead you all to victory! Everyone will eventually enjoy a happy future!” the factory manager said in conclusion.

“Long live Greater Germany!” “Long live Greater Germany!” The shouts from below came in waves, each higher than the last.

…

“So you’re saying you don’t want to join the Greater Germany Party?” Stresemann asked coldly to a diplomat sitting opposite him. The diplomat looked back at him without changing his expression.

Stresemann stared at his incredibly arrogant subordinate and finally spoke again, “You know what the consequences will be if you insist on your course of action.”

“I am a member of the Social Democratic Party, sir. Unlike you, I cannot do such a shameless thing,” the man sneered.

“What did you say?” Stresemann asked, gritting his teeth with a frown.

The man was arrogant and triumphant. “Gustav Stresemann, you haven’t been Foreign Minister for many days. Have you already forgotten that you only got to this position with the support of the German People’s Party?”

The man mocked, “And in the end, you took the entire German People’s Party to be the running dogs for your so-called Greater Germany Party, and recently you’ve even merged it entirely into the Greater Germany Party. Tell me yourself, shouldn’t you be ashamed?”

“A person like you will never understand what true patriots are doing! We have given up our past ideals so that Germany can become strong again!” Stresemann retorted. “We have moved from empty talk to practical action!”

“A running dog will always find many excuses for himself,” the man said hatefully. “You remember this! We have not yet forgotten the blood debt of President Ebert!”

“You’re dismissed, you idiot!” Stresemann, also angered by the insults, said furiously. “You think you know everything! But what you don’t know is that it was Ebert who betrayed Germany first!”

“Ebert was defending Germany!” the man stood up angrily, and as he walked out, he turned his head and roared, “You are the ones pushing Germany towards destruction! Just you wait for the revenge of the Social Democratic Party! Bastards!”

“Revenge? By the time you walk out that door, you will know that the revenge you speak of is nothing but nonsense,” Stresemann sneered softly.

When the diplomat walked out of the Foreign Ministry building, he was stunned by the scene before him. Countless people on the street were holding up banners and signs, marching towards the President’s office under the escort of the police. The clear characters on the banners made him feel suffocated: Long live the Greater Germany Party.

In the President’s office, Hindenburg angrily swept everything from his desk onto the carpet. Listening to the chants of “Long live the Greater Germany Party” erupting outside his window, he roared at his secretary in a rage, “Get Major General Akado Rudolph here! I want to ask him! I want to ask him what exactly he wants to do! What exactly does he want to get?”

…

“What do I want?” Akado looked at the puzzled Rommel behind him and said with a smile, “I want an unprecedentedly powerful German Empire—and then I will ascend to the pinnacle of power within this empire.”